Catalyst Prime/Lion Forge 2017
Written by Joe Casey
Penciled by Larry Stroman
Inked by Rob Stull
Coloured by Snakebite Cortez
Lettered by Saida Temofonte
One year after The Event that transformed a small portion of the world’s population into superhumans, billionaire Bo Vincent Chen has gathered his team of enhanced operatives for secret missions. Their latest task: saving the life of the extraordinary teenager called Seven. The world’s first mysterious superteam of the Catalyst Prime Universe is revealed in this new series, but what secrets are they all hiding?
The Catalyst Prime universe continues to grow and expand in the right way. The event, the meteors that gave folks superhuman abilities, has cause a global upheaval and that’s clearly evident in some titles. Also as this is so new to the world many are still undecided about what to do about these people and on the opposite side of that is the government/military wanting to capture and probably kill/dissect/study them and use them for their own purposes. I used to think that the government stuff was a tad stereotypical or cliche but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that this is more true an aspect than I’d like to admit.
Joe’s doing a fantastic job in making the sheer amount and diversity of powers that we see believable. I’ve had a similar idea myself in why the Earth would have people gain powers so for me this is the closest I’ll ever get to seeing that become reality. It also makes me terribly excited to see how this year is going to progress. This issue sets the tone for an entire universe and whether or not Joe meant to do that, I’m guessing he did, it has the right feel to it. Yes we are in a society filled with company crossovers but they feel forced and trite, this by contrast feels like it’s the beginning of how this universe should be built.
Larry and company do some solid work on the interiors here. It has this very unique superhero feel to it that really feels dynamic to me. The linework is interesting to see and how the faces are drawn capture your attention and you look at each person with a scrutiny we don’t normally find. The way page layouts are done and the use of angles and perspective are nicely done so that the story flows throughout the issue. I’m a firm believer in backgrounds and we really should see more of them in use here, when we do seed them it’s so much better for the larger picture.
Joe and company, Catalyst Prime and Lion Forge have found a way to create a new universe full of superpowered beings from the ground up and have feel like it has all the potential to rival what the big two have. I really am enjoying the tone, mood and feel we are getting here and the way it flows, the structure of what we see is fantastic. The way characters are introduced and how the characterisation is among the best i’ve ever seen.
The thing about this issue that impressed me the most is that two teams are forming in this book and both seem to be for the same or at least similar reasons. So will there be a team of villains that will come from this or will the two separate teams find a way to merge into one? Either way this is off to a helluva start and I'm definitely in for the long haul.